Rotary District Peace Conference 28th January 2012

On Saturday 28^th January the second Peace Education conference organized by District 1150 and hosted by Llantwit Major Rotary Club was held at Atlantic College. A large audience of Interactors, Rotarians and College students heard lectures from Professor Tom Woodhouse and Rae McGrath on the theme of Peace: what can we do? Students from areas affected by conflict gave their life stories and the audience was challenged by a short theatre of the oppressed to engage in conflict resolution. Chiel Mooij, the Peace and Conflict teacher from Atlantic College co-ordinated the student contributions. Julia Smith, a former Peace Scholar from Bradford University gave an update on her experiences  and Jean Best introduced everyone to PeaceJam. Finally a panel of speakers took questions from the audience. Rotary GB&I President Ray Burman and his wife Victoria, and District 1150 DG Mike Parry and his wife Kay contributed fully to the occasion. The Llantwit Major Rotary Club was at the heart of everything: the organizing committee, which had met regularly over the last year, was chaired by Gareth Cheesman, and the secretary was Gareth Rees. Paul Motte was MC for the day and made all the arrangements within the beautiful venue. It was great to see that most of the audience comprised young people.